<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 315 



We now saw for the first time the Suez Canal, with Asia 

 on its further side. Our first sight, however, of that quarter 

 of the globe was not very imposing, for Asia appeared in the 

 form of an embankment. 



The steamer brought us quickly to the town and landed us 

 near the hotel. There were only Europeans in the streets, 

 and everything we saw might very well have belonged to an 

 English seaport. The hotel was a large and quite modern 

 building, very well managed, and greatly reminded us of 

 Switzerland ; not a single object in it savoured of the East, 

 and we were, with the exception of an English family, its sole 

 guests this evening. Soon after our arrival a capital supper 

 was served, and by ten o'clock we were all sound asleep in 

 bed. 



Next morning we left the hotel and went on board a Suez 

 Canal steamer. The captain, a gruff old man, was French, so 

 were his whole crew; and take it altogether the Suez Canal 

 and its belongings are really a bit of France. 



At the outset the African lake Menzaleh is seen beyond 

 the embankments on the west, the Asiatic plain of Pelusium 

 on the east; and the feeling of travelling between two quar- 

 ters of the globe is at first exciting, but one at last gets used 

 even to this grand idea, and finds the reality extremely 

 wearisome. 



Gigantic swarms of Pelicans and Flamingoes, containing 

 thousands and thousands of birds, were standing on the marshy 

 southern parts of Lake Menzaleh; but the sole result of a 

 volley which we poured into them was the rise of a living 

 cloud, larger than one could possibly imagine. 



The country on the right, after the lake had come to an 

 end, appeared to be utterly desolate, but the high banks of the 

 canal shut out the view, and well-built earthworks alone both 

 right and left do not make a pleasing picture. The only 

 diversion which we had was an encounter with a large East 



